GRR: NCR
It has been a few years of battling for Wayne State to get their D3/Small College NCR title.
Three straight years of heartbreak had to hurt.
Paced by an impressive weekend by Don Holmes, IUP won its second straight NCR D2 championship, beating Northern Iowa in an entertaining and close-run final 38-29 Sunday.
A dominant scrum, some tenacious defense, and smart game management saw Brown edge Queens 23-20 Saturday night to win NCR's D1 championship.
This is Brown's 2nd title in three years, and Queens will have to settle for two runner-up finishes in the same period.
Saturday was not Bowling Green's day.
A strong Falcons side that had played well through the fall did not bring its A-game against a Kentucky team that was firing nicely. The result, in this NCR D1AA final was an emphatic Kentucky Wildcat repeat, 57-14.
Wayne State returns to the NCR D3 (previously Small College) final after a close loss to Babson in 2023.
The Wildcats unleashed their pace and intent early to score eight tries, running out to a 22-0 lead over Colorado School of Mines and cruised to a 46-15 win.